Svbscription

Modern luxury shopping guided by your own personal shopping assistant

Svb­scrip­tion is a luxury delivery ser­vice connecting men and women with fashion, homewares, tech and unique experiences. It was founded in New York in 2011 and quickly grew to become one of the leading luxury subscription businesses in the United States before it was acquired in 2015.

The expertise in creating and growing Svbscription included:

User Experience Design

Brand and Business Strategy

Technical Infrastructure Design

Portable was one of the founding groups behind Svbscription and provided all of the technical infrastructure, brand strategy, retail strategy and day-to-day operations behind the platform. Our first task was to build a platform as a proof of concept that people would pay $300 for a mystery box over the internet.

The first iteration of the platform was built using a simple WordPress backend, and we worked closely with Roanne Adams, a New York based branding agency, to help develop the Bauhaus inspired iconography and visual language. All marketing and public relations were managed internally, and we launched Svbscription at the Soho Grand Hotel in New York.

From that launch the following of Svbscription rapidly grew. The company was featured in Time Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the LA Times, GQ and an array of other publications, which applauded the company for its rethink of how customers relate to the concept of luxury.

Svbscription began to work with leading brands to grow out its offering to first men, then women customers. Brands included Maison Martin Margiela, Le Labo, Steven Alan, Acne Studios, Master & Dynamic, J. Lindberg, the White Briefs, Handvaerk, Want Essentiels, Thames and Hudson, Parabelum and many more. The company also collaborated with established media brands including GQ, Details Magazine, Vogue and photographer Todd Selby.

Some of the notable work that was conducted as part of Portable’s involvement with Svbscription included:‍

The scaling up of infrastructure to Drupal 6, including the development of custom subscription e-commerce modules for Drupal.‍A/B testing and optimisation to increase goal conversion and sales over time.

Full logistics and workflows for fulfilment services internationally, working with a range of logistic companies.

Two rounds of capital raising as well as the sale of the business in 2015.

Svbscription continues to operate today with its offices now located in Soho, New York. It no longer relies upon the resources of Portable, but continues to evolve in its approach to retail, brands and commerce.